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John Powell's SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (2018) - Deluxe Edition 2020 / Intrada 2-CD edition October 31, 2023


crocodile

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Sometimes it is great when an album producer elects to take some short cues and combine them in a track, to keep the pace and momentum moving forward when slowing doing and being choppy would be counter-productive.


Sometimes a climax, pause, and then continuation is part of the music. 

 

The climax we hear from 2:01-2:02 is the defining moment of the entire film, when Han kills Beckett in cold blood as Beckett does not expect it.  After that climax, a full fadeout, and moment of silence before the next cue begins would give that climax more weight.  Immediately crossfading into the next cue before the climax is even over robs the moment of its power.

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It's nice to also give the listener options to what they want to listen to. Combining separate cues into single tracks immediately limits this. I see no reason for the train, heist or Kessel run cues to be combined here. They were separate on the OST. Why was it necessary for them to be merged?

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Not the same situation. The ones I dislike are exactly when the one cue does not end on a climax because it was written to be picked up by the next cue, and the other cue was not really written to have a good standalone opening because it's supposed to be picking up the previous cue.

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6 minutes ago, Anthony said:

It's nice to also give the listener options to what they want to listen to. Combining separate cues into single tracks immediately limits this. I see no reason for the train, heist or Kessel run cues to be combined here. They were separate on the OST. Why was it necessary for them to be merged?

Maybe they were written that way? some sections from LOTR covered 35 minutes long etc.

3 minutes ago, Holko said:

Not the same situation. The ones I dislike are exactly when the one cue does not end on a climax because it was written to be picked up by the next cue, and the other cue was not really written to have a good standalone opening because it's supposed to be picking up the previous cue.

Like chapter headings in a book! ;)

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7 minutes ago, Spider-Fal said:

Just poking a bit of fun of your dislike of session style, with the clean ends ala TOD

 

TOD was equally terrible for the exact opposite reason - that shit should have been joined! At least with some basic software knowledge it's possible to do that. Separating crossfaded cues is next to impossible.

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Yea in my post, I was not talking about cues that were clearly intended to segue directly into the next, like the TOD action cues or Desert Chase or Quidditch Match or whatever else


I was specifically talking about cues that are completely separated by unscored scenes, each with a natural opening and ending.  It is these cues that can sometimes work combined together in a track, and sometimes should be left separated to let an important moment breathe.  It all depends.

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Any producer who tries to crossfade Nightclub Brawl and Fast Streets should be fired.

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

Yea in my post, I was not talking about cues that were clearly intended to segue directly into the next, like the TOD action cues or Desert Chase or Quidditch Match or whatever else


I was specifically talking about cues that are completely separated by unscored scenes, yet end up crossfaded together on albums anyway.


Two completely different things.

It doesn't matter what or when it is used though, but how it sounds of course.

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The whole existence of this edition is a eucatastrophe in my book, and I'm particularly thrilled to know which cues were JW's, in whole or in part.  It does make the plot thicken in my head, though.  Did JW and JP sit down and spot the movie together?  Did JW do it alone and just "claim" certain scenes (or even, apparently, segments of scenes) for himself?  Did that serve as stylistic inspiration for Powell's approach elsewhere, in a more specific way than just imitating Williams' general Star Wars style?  For the cues that were partially composed by Williams, was this because of later changes to the edit, or did Williams deliberately provide some sort of compositional "tabs" for Powell to expand upon?

 

Sometimes I marvel at how incredibly much and yet, in a way, how little we know about this art form we love.

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Just now, igger6 said:

The whole existence of this edition is a eucatastrophe in my book, and I'm particularly thrilled to know which cues were JW's, in whole or in part.  It does make the plot thicken in my head, though.  Did JW and JP sit down and spot the movie together?  Did JW do it alone and just "claim" certain scenes (or even, apparently, segments of scenes) for himself?  Did that serve as stylistic inspiration for Powell's approach elsewhere, in a more specific way than just imitating Williams' general Star Wars style?  For the cues that were partially composed by Williams, was this because of later changes to the edit, or did Williams deliberately provide some sort of compositional "tabs" for Powell to expand upon.

 

Sometimes I marvel at how incredibly much and yet, in a way, how little we know about these guys.


This answers all your questions

 

 

On 5/15/2018 at 3:44 AM, MikeH said:

Highlights from the above podcast:

 

- JW wrote SEVERAL themes for the new film!

 

- JW spotted the movie with Powell and Ron Howard. 

 

-JW did demos for the team of the themes with a full orchestra at Sony

 

On 5/15/2018 at 4:21 AM, artguy360 said:

Listening to the podcast now, I like how JP talks about music, despite not actually liking a ton of his music.

So JW spotted the film, wrote several new themes, played them on piano for Powell and Howard on separate occasions at his home as.is his tradition, and then recorded demos with a full orchestra and kept in touch with JP throughout the scoring process.

 

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7 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Did JW and JP sit down and spot the movie together?

 

They did.

 

7 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Did JW do it alone and just "claim" certain scenes (or even, apparently, segments of scenes) for himself?

 

I don't know how JW "chose" which parts to score. Key scenes (or key parts of scenes at least) I imagine.

 

 

7 minutes ago, igger6 said:

Did that serve as stylistic inspiration for Powell's approach elsewhere, in a more specific way than just imitating Williams' general Star Wars style?

 

No idea, but the PR stuff that was released when Powell was announced said "The untitled Han Solo movie will be scored in the style of the original Star Wars movies but retain Powell’s distinctive voice.  "

 

7 minutes ago, igger6 said:

For the cues that were partially composed by Williams, was this because of later changes to the edit, or did Williams deliberately provide some sort of compositional "tabs" for Powell to expand upon?

 

I imagine the latter.

 

Edit: I imagine that interview Jay posted answer a lot. Didn't know about that. Will give it a listen!

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2 hours ago, Anthony said:

image.png

 

Interesting! That was one of the standout motifs that I noticed when I first saw the film; I always assumed it was either a motif for Proxima or a secondary motif for Crimson Dawn, or even just a general "bad guy" motif.

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I can't remember who lamented the lack of a clean ending for the end credits immediately after the Family Stories section (due to it being in a different key from the film cue), but theoretically this could be achieved by phasing out the start of Lando's Closet to create a clean ending.

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The album is up on HDTracks now in the entirety of the US for anyone interested. 

 

Does HDTracks no longer let you choose a format? It says the album is 192khz/24-bit, but it doesn't specify the format.

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$21, very reasonable 

 

https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/5fb3e961a0408e60640a3656

 

I think you pick your format after they take your payment. You can choose flac wav or aiff I think

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2 minutes ago, Jay said:

$21, very reasonable 

 

Agreed! I expected it to be closer to $35 USD

 

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

I think you pick your format after they take your payment. You can choose flac wav or aiff I think

 

Hopefully... they used to make you select a format before purchasing; I just bought it, so I'll have to check in a minute.

 

EDIT: I see now, you select the format in the downloader app. It appears you can change formats at any time now!

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I haven't bought anything from HDTracks in a couple years since they haven't had a lot of releases I've gotten recently (I've been using 7Digital as an alternative) so I didn't know how much they changed. It's definitely a lot better this way since you can now choose your format at any time for any device.

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14 minutes ago, Jay said:

$21, very reasonable 

 

Holy shit! That Australian price from last night was a huge ripoff (about $42 USD)! So glad I held off and didn't purchase last night on ZDigital (the AU regional equivalent of 7Digital).

 

12 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Hopefully... they used to make you select a format before purchasing; I just bought it, so I'll have to check in a minute.

 

Is it definitely $21 for the high-resolution version? Please let us know how it goes. From what you're describing, it seems you just purchase access to the score and then can choose whatever format you like? Not the tiered prices depending on the format.

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32 minutes ago, Jay said:

No one has posted such a list, no. What purpose would it serve? 

 

Knowing the tracks that comprise the End Credits? Since it seems it is a compilation like Mischief Managed. I haven't heard it yet so I'm curious. I can obviously answer the question myself in a few hours. I'm just excited.

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7 minutes ago, crumbs said:

Holy shit! That Australian price from last night was a huge ripoff (about $42 USD)! So glad I didn't purchase on ZDigital.

 

Is it definitely $21 for the high-resolution version? Please let us know how it goes. From what you're describing, it seems you just purchase access to the score and then can choose whatever format you like? Not the tiered prices depending on the format.

 

Yes, paid $20.48 in total (they bumped a dollar off I think), no tier selection; it's only 192/24. Finished downloading in WAV a few minutes ago and am currently organizing the almost 8GB worth of files!

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6 minutes ago, blondheim said:

 

Knowing the tracks that comprise the End Credits? Since it seems it is a compilation like Mischief Managed. I haven't heard it yet so I'm curious. I can obviously answer the question myself in a few hours. I'm just excited.

 

0:00 - 0:29 Main on End (Luke fanfare)

0:30 - 1:14 Reminiscence Therapy excerpt

1:15 - 1:40 Family Stories excerpt (the hyperspace cue)

1:40 - 3:45 Lando's Closet (album version)

3:45 - 5:23 Mine Mission excerpt (the fugue part)

5:24 - 7:44 Corellia Chase

7:45 - End  Second half of Flying with Chewy (now Chewie Untamed on the Deluxe)

 

5 minutes ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Yes, paid $20.48 in total (they bumped a dollar off), no tier selection; it's only 192/24. Finished downloading in WAV a few minutes ago and am currently organizing the files!

 

Bloody awesome!

 

AU retailers have some cheek to gouge the price that excessively.

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1 hour ago, Manakin Skywalker said:

Finished downloading in WAV a few minutes ago and am currently organizing the almost 8GB worth of files!

 

Can you go back and re-download in other file formats, like FLAC? I'm not familiar with HDTracks.

 

The files are just unlocked, ordinary music files downloaded to your PC yeah?

 

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

It let me buy it from the US HDTracks. The UK store doesn't exist anymore. £16.52 is a steal! All the other stores over here offer it at around twice that!

 

Karol

 

Yep, $57 AUD ($42 USD) to buy it from the local digital music store. Double the price of HDTracks!

 

For any Australians wondering, you can purchase and download the high-res version from HDTracks, no issues. Just put a ZIP code from the US when prompted, then pay through PayPal. No geoblocking.

 

And you can download in multiple formats if you so desire. You just have to select 'REDOWNLOAD RECENT PURCHASE' after finishing, and change your file format.

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1 hour ago, Jay said:

$21, very reasonable 

 

https://www.hdtracks.com/#/album/5fb3e961a0408e60640a3656

 

I think you pick your format after they take your payment. You can choose flac wav or aiff I think

 

Done and done! What a fitting first HD purchase, considering how marvelous the sound already is.

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1 minute ago, LaloCoyoacan said:

Where is The Adventures of Han?

 

On the OST. :P

 

4 minutes ago, TSMefford said:

 

Done and done! What a fitting first HD purchase, considering how marvelous the sound already is.

 

Same here :)

 

Sadly, looking at the spectograms, it seems most of the high-frequency data has been cleaned away :(

 

But considering the high-res version is basically the same price as the standard 16/44.4 version, no big deal! And the sweeping orchestral sections definitely peak into much higher frequencies, so there is more detail when there needs to be.

 

Either way, very happy to support this release. Hopefully it's successful for both Powell & Disney because the same treatment for JW's 9 is long overdue.

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Just now, crumbs said:

Same here :)

 

Sadly, looking at the spectograms, it seems most of the high-frequency data has been cleaned away :(

 

But considering the high-res version is basically the same price as the standard 16/44.4 version, no big deal! And the sweeping orchestral sections definitely peak into much higher frequencies, so there is more detail when there needs to be.

 

Either way, very happy to support this release. Hopefully it's successful for both Powell & Disney because the same treatment for JW's 9 is long overdue.

 

Should be fun either way! I'm happy to support as well. It really is a great release. 

 

I already really liked this score, but it really is quite lovely and well-done. Made me want to watch the film again too. 

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15 hours ago, Falstaft said:

By the way, can we all acknowledge what a pitch-perfect parody "Empire Recruitment" is of the Elgarian nobilmente march, down to very subtle choices of voicing, bass-line, harmony, and orchestration? "Edwardian Style, Tempo di Sithio" indeed. This makes my day.

 

Things coming around full circle in a very pleasing way, considering this (possible) model for the Imperial March in the first place. 

 

 

Gosh I'm really in love with "Empire Recruitment" as well. Definitely sounds super British. Reminds me a tad of Walton (or of JW's own forays into a British sound, like a couple times in HP1). 

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For those buying on HDTracks, they have a new release code this weekend. (I got it via their weekly email.)

 

AudioHD20

 

Final price was $16.98 for 24/192 after applying the 20% off code. (Works on all new releases not just this 1 title.)

 

Loving the release so far!

 

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15 hours ago, Jay said:

Oof, the end credits just kinda ends too, no "big finish" at all.  I really don't get why he specifically chose to highlight this track several times.  It's really not even needed, Dice and Roll (er, To Tatooine) already provides a satisfying closure to the score.

 

The JW end credit opening is a great recording for sure, but then everything afterward is just stuff you've already heard, stitched together in a not particularly musical way.  Weird.

 

I was thinking the same thing... I don't know why Powell hyped and even called the track "Super Extra Deluxe End Credits Suite" when it's just a copy-paste of other tracks. I like the re-recording of the fanfare but I was also expecting something like specific new arrangements of the cues or something like that. 

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Really enjoying the hell out of this release! The score shines and the sound quality is superb. I'm also a bit confused by the End Credits hype. It sounds a little less choppy than I remember it being in the film but that's about it. Not that I can say I'm disappointed - there just clearly wasn't an a suite recorded and there's so much incredible music to enjoy on this as it is.

 

I will probably look in to finding a way of editing The Adventures of Han in after the fanfare.

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